Pop-up restaurants serve specialty food on the go

On a recent Saturday evening in Charleston, S.C., about 40 foodies wearing feathered masks and colorful beads tucked into Cajun shrimp beignets and duck gumbo at the stately Charleston Library Society. They were here for a Mardi Gras-themed dinner — touted as a "pop-up" restaurant — one of many put on at a variety of venues by LIME, an acronym for Local. Impromptu. Moveable. Evening.

Guests, who paid $125 per person, didn't know the location until two days prior and had not seen the menu until they walked in the door. But anyone who had LIME'd before knew he was in for a good time (and that a portion of the proceeds would go to a charity). The element of surprise is part of the draw for adventurous foodies and pop-up fans who hunger for a space at the table.

PHOTOS: Pop-up restaurants go gourmet on the spot
A trend that has been flourishing in big urban centers such as Los Angeles and New York for several years, pop-up restaurants are, ahem, popping up all over. Temporary and often culinarily avant-garde, they spring up for a short period of time, be it a single night, a week or several months, promoted via social media, e-mail lists or simple word of mouth.

They have been known to take over empty lofts, airplane hangars, and restaurants during off-hours — pretty much anywhere the imagination dares to go, but with access to a working kitchen. As evidenced by their proliferation, pop-ups can indeed be profitable. In fact, their popularity is only enhanced by their fleeting nature, creating even more demand and perhaps an air of exclusivity.

A pop-up's emphasis is often on pushing the envelope — be it with the food, the venue or the entertainment. That said, most pop-ups tend not to be fly-by-night enterprises, as they want to build a loyal following, and are required to abide by restaurant or catering health-department regulations in their town.

"As a chef, I love the opportunity to flex my culinary wings," says LIME founder Renata Dos Santos. "Each menu is unique, but I enjoy the challenge of coming up with something different each time and working under different cooking conditions."

In Denver, a similar project is underway with Hush Concepts, which hosts a variety of local chefs to cook for just a weekend, each time in an entirely new venue — on the roof of an art museum, on a stretch of abandoned railroad tracks, inside the barrel room of a winery.

"I'm not in this to do the same food over and over," says Hush founder Phil Armstrong, who usually charges about $115 for a five-course meal with wine pairings. "We wanted to give rising chefs a culinary playground, where they didn't have to cook within the parameters set by an executive chef. And we wanted to give the diners something totally non-traditional."

Indeed, the diners seem to be digging it. Armstrong has sold out each of the 26 events he has put on in just two years.

"The quality of food and atmosphere is always spectacular," says frequent Hush attendee Susan Indermill, who cites the adventure of it all as a reason to keep coming back. "It's also fun getting to meet new people and experience the creativity of these phenomenal chefs."

The freedom afforded by the pop-up model is what allowed celebrity chef José Andrés to fully explore the provenance of American food and offer it at pop-up America Eats Tavern in Washington, D.C.— complete with a historical explanation of each dish on the menu, from peanut butter and jelly to lobster Newberg.

He launched this pop-up restaurant last July 4 in conjunction with an exhibition about American food at the National Archives. The exhibition is over, but America Eats Tavern extended its stay until July 4 of this year.

For Andrés, who hails from Spain, it was a no-brainer. The space was already owned by his company, and he has always been captivated by the breadth and character of American food. In fact, the concept bore a renewed enthusiasm among his team.

"You do have to be a little bit crazy to want to do a pop-up," says Andrés. "But it's like being young again. It's exciting. Our staff stays up late reading old American cookbooks. They want to invest the time and energy into a project like this."

Perhaps the chef best known for his pop-up restaurants is Los Angeles' Ludo Lefebvre, who just opened his ninth such enterprise in an entirely new state, at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai at Historic Ka'upulehu — aptly named Ludobites Hawaii Nine-O (March 6 through 17).

"It was never my plan to start a pop-up," says Lefebvre, who in 2007 grew tired of what seemed an interminable process of trying to open a full-time restaurant. So he asked a friend who owned a bakery if he could use the space at night when the bakery was closed. It was a win-win: The friend made a little extra money, and Lefebvre didn't have to worry about all of the overhead of a "regular" restaurant.

"If you have a brick-and-mortar restaurant, there are certain expectations — like you'll be open on weekends, you'll keep certain dishes on the menu," says Lefebvre, who classifies his as a "touring" restaurant, usually sticking around at any given location for more than a month.

"I like that I can cook what I want, when I want and where I want," says Lefebvre. "But opening a restaurant is very, very difficult, and we have chosen to do it multiple times a year. Maybe I really am crazy."